At the end of July and mid-August, we organized two educational nature camps for children in Studeno, a highland area on Mount Prekornica.
The four-day camps, titled “The Magic of the Bosnian Pine”, brought together over fifty children from Spuž and Danilovgrad, occasionally joined by other children already vacationing in the area with their families.
During the camp, the children had the chance to connect deeply with the forests of Bosnian pine that encircle Studeno, as well as the surrounding meadow ecosystems. They gradually immersed themselves in the hidden world of bats, insects, mammals, and reptiles that inhabit Prekornica and Montenegro.
Evenings around the campfire brought stories to life — tales passed down by our ancestors and legends and myths of the forests, meadows, celestial bodies, natural cycles, and mythical beings.
Children were encouraged to tune into their inspiration and intuition, creating art from natural materials found in their surroundings, while also going on a quest for the artworks crafted daily by nature itself. They designed model gardens featuring mutually supportive plant species, as well as villages and cities built on the principles of sustainable development.
At night, beneath star-filled skies, we spoke about the phenomenon of light pollution and its impact on humans and other life forms that live by the rhythms of day and night.
On site, children also learned navigation skills and how to stay safely in nature for several days, while gradually sensing the slow but steady pulse of climate change — especially during the second camp, when the smell of smoke from a wildfire across Lisac reached the camp.
These camps mark just the beginning of a long-term effort to provide environmental education and to foster a deep connection between children and the natural world around them.
The camps were held within the framework of the project “From Environmental Education and Child-Nature Connection to Dendrochronological Research and Raising Awareness about Climate Change over the Past Centuries in Montenegro!”, co-financed by the European Union and the Government of Montenegro.
